New England Spinal Cord Injury Toolkit

Developed under the guidance of Gaylord Hospital staff, the New England Spinal Cord Injury Toolkit (NESCIT) is a collaborative effort between facilities providing spinal cord injury rehabilitation in New England. This collaboration ensures patients can receive the same coordinated standard of care wherever they receive rehabilitation.

The NESCIT initiative has the potential to significantly impact patient care in areas such as Autonomic Dysreflexia, Skin Care, Bladder Management, Neurogenic Bowels, Sexual Health and Fertility, and Spasticity. The intention was to create a resource for building capacity at facilities that may not treat patients with SCI often enough to have developed expertise. The NESCIT aims to improve functional outcomes while decreasing the frequency of complications associated with paralysis, especially for vulnerable groups discharged to long-term care facilities or home with visiting nursing services. NESCIT can be of use to professionals looking for a refresher on a topic, people that are newly injured, have a chronic injury and caregivers across the continuum of care.

Each topic begins with a standard of care that encompasses the goal of the topic, which disciplines should be involved in the delivery of the care, the process for sharing the information and the most relevant resources for the topic. Resources are offered that are appropriate, easily accessed and user friendly. You can access NESCIT from this link: www.gaylord.org/Our-Programs/Spinal-Cord/Spinal-Cord-Injury-Model-System/Spinal-Cord-Injury-Toolkit. Please refrain from printing it more than necessary. The resources and links are routinely checked to ensure the most current information is listed.

This project was funded as a National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research Grant #H133N110019, #H133N120002, and the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research Administration for Community Living Grant #90SI5013.